On October 23, 2025, NAPSA signed on to a letter sent to U.S. Senators Cassidy and Sanders claiming that through Reduction in Force (RIF) actions and incentives to exit the federal workforce, U.S. Secretary of Education McMahon has broken “longstanding precedent around the Department’s statutorily required duties to provide fiscal oversight, monitoring, compliance, provision of technical assistance, and more to states, and as noted, such changes have not been approved by Congress. Given this and recent reports of the Department beginning efforts to shift responsibilities to other agencies immediate oversight by Congress is essential.”

The letter goes on to “respectfully urge you to address our concerns with an oversight hearing as soon as possible.”

To view the full contents of the click here.

Abe Saffer, Federal Affairs 10/24/2025

Recent policy discussions from the administration and other policymakers have proposed transferring the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) from the Department of Education (ED) to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Here are eight reasons the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) believes the IDEA should remain within the Department of Education.

1. IDEA is an education law, not a health program
The IDEA was created to make sure students with disabilities get a free, appropriate public education (FAPE), not medical care. The IDEA’s purpose would be confused if it was moved to HHS, changing it from an education program to a health one.

2. IDEA works best alongside general education
Congress has worked since the IDEA’s creation to more closely align special and general education laws to foster closer integration. Preserving the IDEA in the Department of Education (ED) maintains this alignment, enhancing coordination, which benefits all children.

3. ED staff has the expertise
The Department of Education staff have decades of specialized expertise, understanding schools, classrooms, and education law. Transferring the IDEA to HHS, an agency with no experience or expertise in administering education programs would not only create a steep learning curve but could dilute the IDEA’s educational focus and compromise its effectiveness in ensuring a free and appropriate education for students with disabilities.

4. Moving the IDEA to HHS would send the wrong message to schools about the necessity of related services
The Congressional purpose of the IDEA is spelled out in the legislation: to assess, and ensure the effectiveness of, efforts to educate children with disabilities. Even though the vast majority of related services are provided by professionals frequently defined as health practitioners, all related services are designed to meet the educational needs of students with disabilities.

5. It would put at risk all the progress made by the IDEA in the last 50 years
Prior to the nation’s first special education law, only one in five students with disabilities attended public schools, and many states had laws excluding children with certain disabilities from school. Today, the civil rights of students with disabilities are safeguarded in part because ED houses both the Office of Special Education Programs and the Office of Civil Rights. This ensures coordinated oversight and enforcement of the law. Moving the IDEA out of ED would fracture this structure and weaken the protections Congress intended.

6. Creates new challenges for state and local education agencies
State and local education agencies, not departments of health, manage the IDEA funding and services. Transferring the IDEA to HHS would force states to rebuild systems and processes, at best delaying support for students, and at worse seeing more students fail to get the support they need to thrive.

7. It would send the wrong message about inclusion
Students with disabilities are general education students first. Moving the IDEA to HHS would create the impression that special education should occur separate from general education, which is in direct contrast to the Congressional mandate that students should be educated in the least restrictive environment.

8. It would weaken accountability
A key responsibility of the Department of Education is to hold states accountable for meeting all federal education mandates. Moving the IDEA to HHS would remove the clear line of accountability, making it harder to track if schools, local education agencies, or states are serving students with disabilities, consistent with the IDEA.

As rumors swirled that special education programs could soon be leaving their longtime home at the U.S. Department of Education (USDE), a spokesperson has confirmed the USDE is “exploring additional partnerships” with other federal agencies to support this programming.

Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications, in an email to K-12 Dive, did not detail what federal agencies the USDE was seeking to partner with, but emphasized that any agreement would be made “without any interruption or impact on students with disabilities.” Biedermann also made clear that no agreement has been signed.

Biedermann added that U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon “is fully committed to protecting the federal funding streams that support our nation’s students with disabilities,” even as McMahon’s goal is to “put herself out of a job by shutting down the Department of Education and returning education to the states.”

The Trump administration has said for several months that it wants to move special education out of the USDE. Both President Donald Trump and McMahon have named the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as a potential partner in overseeing federal special education activities. 

This latest development comes as the Trump administration continues its quest to downsize the USDE. Staff buy-outs, early retirements and mass firings, including one on Oct 10 during the federal government shutdown, has left the agency with about half of the workforce it began the year with.
Most of the employees within the USDE’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), about 121 people, were fired on Oct. 10 while many were furloughed by the shutdown. About 465 employees across the USDE were let go, including in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OSEP) and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR).

For more from K-12 Dive, click here.

On October 17, 2025, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) released the latest issue of the Positive Approaches Journal, which aims to provide the most recent research for people with behavioral health challenges, intellectual disabilities, autism, and other developmental disabilities to help them live an everyday life. This edition highlights the role that the environment plays on the everyday lives of people and how fostering supportive environments can promote positive change.

This edition of the Positive Approaches Journal features research and articles on the following:
-Data Insights: This article details how Medicaid-covered home accessibility modifications – ramps and lifts, widened doorways and hallways, bathroom modifications, specialized electrical or plumbing equipment, and grab bars and handrails – are important in supporting health, safety, and independence for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
-Designing for Safety: A Trauma-Informed Approach to Environmental Design in Community-Based Wellness: This article examines how physical spaces communicate safety, autonomy, and belonging, and how environmental design can play a critical role in resiliency and trauma-informed care for those with intellectual disabilities and autism and those who support them.
-Creating Nurturing Environments to Support Mental Health: This article highlights evidence-based techniques to create supportive environments using the Ecology of Human Performance Theory from occupational therapy, which explains the interaction between a person and their environment.
-Positive Impacts of Environmental Modifications for Individuals with Autism and Dual Diagnosis Conditions: This article highlights how specified environmental modifications can be implemented in order to best support a person with autism, intellectual developmental disability, and co-occurring mental health.
-Building Better Lives: Futures Community Support Services, Inc: This article outlines how Futures Community Support Services provides a wide range of individualized services designed to support people with autism or developmental disabilities based on their unique needs and living situations.
-Transforming Lives with Technology: This article offers a case study on the balance of an individual’s risk and independence in a residential setting.

The journal is a collaboration of DHS’ Office of Developmental Programs and Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. It collects resources, observations, and advancements in mental and behavioral health in order to better serve people in their communities.

Read this edition of the Positive Approaches Journal.

For more information visit www.dhs.pa.gov.